The Tribune

By YOURI KEMP

Tribune Business Reporter

ykemp@tribunemedia.net

A MAJOR realtor said it was a “good thing” that the Bahamas Petroleum Company (BPC) did not find commercial quantities of oil as the private sector offered mixed views on the exploratory drilling results.

Mario Carey, the Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate MCR Group Bahamas principal, told Tribune Business that not everything should be about money and financial gain when it comes to the country’s economic development.

“I’m more of an environmentalist,” he said. “I’m more of an advocate to preserve our pristine waters. It’s just a very personal thing. So it’s nothing to do with money. Sometimes decisions about life and things shouldn’t be based on money.”

Mr Carey argued that BPC should move on from The Bahamas because he does not want this nation to become like Trinidad and Tobago, with its oil and gas industry. “We are very unique situation, and we should destroy it [our environment] for what? For an oil spill for your kids and their kids to have to deal with that mess?

“My hope is that the government isn’t in a position where they have to grant a licence where they can’t get out of it any more. I think there’s a lot of other ways for the Bahamas to make money other than drilling oil. I have a whole list of them.”

Peter Bridgewater, Open Systems Technologies’ president, said he was disappointed that BPC did not find oil and that the outcome of its exploratory Perseverance One well was “bad” for The Bahamas.

He added: “Just thinking about it, if there was oil there it would have been an opportunity for future income for The Bahamas. Notwithstanding what we have in other natural resources.”

However, Mr Bridgewater said that if The Bahamas was to continue with oil exploration it should not be through BPC. He added: “Not with the same people, and since they haven’t found anything, I would probably farm those licences out and see what the country could really get for them.”

Dwayne Higgs, WHIM Automotive’s general manager, said that from an “environmental perspective” it was a “good thing” BPC did not find oil. “The potential for an oil spill would devastate the environment and tourism as a result,” he added.

“We’ve even seen other oil spills around the world that have taken a very long time to contain and do a lot of damage, and we really can’t afford that to our number one resource, which is the sun, sand and sea.”

Mr Higgs, arguing that the world is moving away from fossil fuels, said The Bahamas does not need to move in that direction and “we should find other innovative ways to diversify our economy. I don’t think oil is it.”

He argued that policymakers need to think about the “long term” as the price of fuel has come down over the last few years, with the US producing much of its own oil. “It’s a matter of being innovative, looking at other things not related to the petroleum industry,” Mr Higgs said.